Process of producing ammonia.



N 0. 816,928. PATBNTED APR. 3, 1906.

L I J. A. LYONS & E. G. BROADWELL.

PROCESS OF PRODUCING AMMONIA.

APPLICATION FILED ear-122. 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. LYONS AND EDWARD '0; BROADWELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. PROCESS OFPRODUCINGAMMONIA.

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that We, JOHN A. LYONS and EDWARD C. BRoADwELL, citizens of the -of the e invention are'illustrated in the accompany' mg drawing, which is a vertical sectional view of an apparatus the parts of which are designated by suitable re erenceletters. ()ur invention, however, does not rest upon the use of any oneform of apparatus.

In this apparatus as here shown A is a crucible.

,B is a fire or other suitable means of external heat; C, an internal positive electrode or anodeof carbon, the ne ative electrode or cathodebeing formed by t e crucible A.

vD is a pipe or annular jacket surrounding the anode and made'of some suitableresistive material, annulus a so serves as a partition between the anode or cathode. The course of the current is represented by the arrows E.

carrying out our invention the borates of any of the electropositive metalssuch as potassium, sodium, manganese, chromium,

molybdenum, tungsten, uranium, and va nadium, or a mixture of the borates of these metals-are maintained in a state of fusion in the crucible. This fused state may be maintainedeither by the fire B or it may be maintained by causin electric energy or the current to'fall as Joule heat. Through this fused bath is assed an electric current, whereby not only el sctrolysis 3f the borates is effected, but also an intense heat created at the carbon anode by the rela-v bively high resistance in the bath at or near heanode, owing to thefact that the anode, LS shown, has a surface of much smaller area ;han the inner surface of the retaining-cru- :ible, which acts as the cathode. At the :ame time nitrogen bearing gases or pure Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed September 2, 1904. Serial No. 223,158.

referably graphite. This pipe or a suflici'ent amount of the I Patented April 3, 1906.

nitrogen .gas itself is passed into the bath down through the annulus or pipe of resistive material surrounding the anode. The nitrogen is introduced by means of a vessel F, having a stem depending into the annulus D. The electrolysis produces anion, boric anhydrid, and oxygen at the anode, where the intensely-heated carbon acts as ,a reducing agent to chemically reduce the anion to boron. The pipe serves to prevent the boron thus formed from floating over to the cathode and the nitrogen introduced into the pipe combines with the boron to form boron nitrld. The metal of the borates will be deposited at the Y cathode. nitrid has accumulated it is subjected while separated from the metals to steam at a temperature of 600 centigrade or above. This maybe done either by. withdrawing the boron nitrid from the bath or else after the deposited metal has been Withdrawn therefrom passing steam at the same temperature into the bath, in either case causing the boron torevert the boric anhydrid (B 0 and producin synthetic or artificial ammonia by the 0 lowmg reaction:

-2BN +3H O B 0 -I-. 2NH

, The temperature of the bath is maintained at about 1,'000 centigrade;

Having thus described our'invention, what we claim is- 1. The process of subjecting a fused bath of the borates of electropositive metals to electrolytic action and subjecting the anion produced thereby to a reducing agent, at the anode in the presence of an intense heat and introducing nitrogen into said bath at the anode and then subjecting the boron nitrid thus produced to steam.

2. The process of producing the borate of an electrolysis and a heat at the anode, introducing nitrogen at the anode,-and subjecting the boron nitrid while separated from the deposited metal to the action of steam at 600 centigrade or above.

3.- The process of boron from electropositlve metal by subjecting a fused bath of the borate of an electropositivemetal to electrolysis and I chemica y reducing the 5 Then after' sufficient boron reducing agent of intense boric anhydrid t0 boron at the anode, in the In testimony whereof We have hereunto presence of an anode separated from thecethaffixed our signatures.

' ode by a jacket of resistive material mtroducing nitrogen between said anode and ADVVELL jacket and subjecting the boron nitrid thus produced to the action of steam at a sufli- Witnesses: cient temperature to cause the boron to re- ARTHUR STUART,

vert to boric anhydrid. ROBERT C. SPIEDEL. 

